North Carolina turns to Paige for clutch shots to ward off Maryland

Published: Sunday, March 17, 2013 at 01:32 AM.

“There were two or three times that they made big runs at us that we had enough in the tank to come back at them,” North Carolina coach Roy Williams said. “And it was huge for us.”

Bullock (15 points, nine rebounds), Strickland (15 points), Hairston (13 points) and James Michael McAdoo (13 points, eight rebounds) contributed to the balanced production for the Tar Heels, who defeated Maryland for the third time this season.

Hairston played with his left hand taped, bandaged and padded after suffering a nasty cut in Friday night’s quarterfinals that required eight stitches to the webbing between two fingers. He buried his first two shots of the game, both 3s, but went 1-for-8 from the field the rest of the way.

Strickland scored all of his points in the game’s first 23 minutes. But he became less and less effective when required to direct North Carolina’s offense following Paige’s exit with his fourth foul (10:06 mark of the second half).

GREENSBORO — Marcus Paige claimed there was nothing too technical about the teardrop he lofted in over towering Maryland center Alex Len during the final 37 seconds, the final floating bucket for North Carolina in what became a test of maintaining composure.

“I just wanted to get it up as soon as possible,” Paige said. “Definitely no science to it.”

Maybe not, but that produced the last piece of evidence attached to the clutch gene that emerged in the Tar Heels’ 79-76 survival in the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament semifinals Saturday at Greensboro Coliseum.

Twice, North Carolina — which led by 13 with 11½ minutes remaining and 10 with seven minutes left — nearly frittered away double-digit leads coming down the stretch.

Paige, the freshman point guard, parked on the bench due to his fourth foul for nearly six minutes prior to crunch time, delivered at the most critical juncture — after Maryland pulled within 71-70 on Len’s lay-in underneath.

He sank a tough pull-up jumper to push North Carolina’s edge to 73-70 with 2:49 left.

Two minutes later, the 6-foot Paige drove past Maryland’s Jake Layman and feathered up a soft floater that climbed over the imposing 7-1 Len, who was stepping in on help defense, and tumbled down through the hoop for a 77-72 Tar Heels lead with 36.5 seconds left.

“Those were probably the two biggest shots in the game,” guard Dexter Strickland said.

“I had to go to the floater, because if I tried to go all the way and lay it in, he probably would’ve blocked it,” Paige said. “I’ve been working on that shot a lot and it was able to go in. It’s a thing you practice over and over again, definitely a tool that I had to have. It came up big for me.”

Especially considering the manner in which, Maryland, coming off Friday night’s quarterfinal toppling of Duke and trying to conjure up another magical victory, refused to be subdued, despite the pro-Tar Heels crowd that roared its approval at various moments.

North Carolina’s P.J. Hairston split and pair of free throws on the other end, giving Maryland, down three with 10.9 seconds left, a chance to force overtime.

On a side inbounds play, Aronhalt found himself open from deep upon catching the pass. His 25-footer missed everything, an air-ball falling into Reggie Bullock’s hands and allowing the Tar Heels to exhaust the remaining seconds.

“There were two or three times that they made big runs at us that we had enough in the tank to come back at them,” North Carolina coach Roy Williams said. “And it was huge for us.”

Bullock (15 points, nine rebounds), Strickland (15 points), Hairston (13 points) and James Michael McAdoo (13 points, eight rebounds) contributed to the balanced production for the Tar Heels, who defeated Maryland for the third time this season.

Hairston played with his left hand taped, bandaged and padded after suffering a nasty cut in Friday night’s quarterfinals that required eight stitches to the webbing between two fingers. He buried his first two shots of the game, both 3s, but went 1-for-8 from the field the rest of the way.

Strickland scored all of his points in the game’s first 23 minutes. But he became less and less effective when required to direct North Carolina’s offense following Paige’s exit with his fourth foul (10:06 mark of the second half).

McAdoo, banging with Len inside, had received his third and fourth fouls two minutes later. And here was Maryland, recently trailing 58-45, within 60-57.

That’s when Leslie McDonald nailed his only shot in seven attempts, a 3 from the corner that felt significant, as the momentum clearly had shifted in Maryland’s favor.

Then, Bullock, relocating behind the arc from the corner to the wing while Strickland drove and elevated, trying to find a passing angle to open teammate, banged in another meaningful 3 that put North Carolina up 66-58 with 7:49 left.

“We made some nice plays, did some things at the end that let us win,” Williams said. “Leslie only made one field goal, but it was a big field goal.”

For Maryland, Len finished with 20 points and seven rebounds. Nick Faust connected on five 3s and scored 17 points.

Dez Wells, he of the 51 points in the Terrapins’ first two ACC Tournament games, including a career-best 30 against Duke, had 15 points. Wells scored 11 in the last nine minutes.